


Could You Guys. . . Not?

by tuesdaysinoctober



Series: The Gaang Plays Volleyball [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Finally, Volleyball, suki and sokka get together, there are so many haikyuu tags for volleyball???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:00:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29513577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tuesdaysinoctober/pseuds/tuesdaysinoctober
Summary: Sokka, Suki, and Katara go to an open gym
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Series: The Gaang Plays Volleyball [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2044507
Kudos: 14





	Could You Guys. . . Not?

**Author's Note:**

> that summary is so boring im so sorry but idk how else to say it without giving the whole thing away 
> 
> blehh the title
> 
> here's your update for this series, the almost multi-chap but not really volleyball fic i'm writing 
> 
> hopefully I'll be updating more often and it'll probably end after zutara gets together because it's not a multi-chap and it doesn't have a coherent plotline

“Sukiispickingmeupinfiveminuteswe’regoingtoanopengymdoyouwanttocome?” 

“ _What_?” Katara says, sitting up on the couch. 

Sokka sighs, draping his arms over the couch. “Suki. Is. Picking. Me. Up. In. Five. Minutes. We’re. Going. To. An. Open. Gym. Do. You. Want. To. Come.” 

“Well you don’t have to say it like that,” Katara says. “Let me go change and I’ll meet you out front.” 

She and Sokka fight over shotgun (she regrets not calling it earlier), so Suki makes them race to her car from the front door. It’s a very Suki thing to do, settle something simple with competition. Katara wins, meaning she gets more leg room. Suki’s car has a tiny backseat but she can fit the entire friend group and Toph and Aang are on the shorter side of the height spectrum, so it's not terribly cramped. 

The sports center the open gym is at is primarily empty, except for a group of people on the opposite end of the floor who look vaguely familiar. 

“I can set to you and you can hit at Katara,” Suki says and the siblings nod. It’s a drill they know well. 

Sokka insists on hitting ones, with Suki instructing him as best as she can but Sokka isn’t generally one to listen. 

“Your timing is off,” she says with a sigh. 

“I don’t-- what does that _mean_? How can my timing be off? I’m still hitting the ball.” 

“Katara, come here,” Suki says and Katara ducks under the net. “Set me a one.” 

Katara does as she asks, although setting isn’t her strong suit. Suki does her approach and smacks the ball down with impressive power. 

“Did you see how I threw the ball at Katara and then went? Follow the ball out of the corner of your eye. You need to keep your full approach, too. You’re shortening it, do you see? You’re hopping, you’re not taking actual steps. Go again.” 

It takes Sokka a little bit to get the timing right, which means he’s mostly sending Katara tips. Not necessarily a bad thing, but she has to keep diving to get to the ball and her body is starting to protest. She can feel her hip throbbing. 

When Sokka finally hits a proper one, Katara isn’t expecting him to actually do it, and shanks the ball to the right, down the line of courts. She moves to chase after it, but Suki shakes her head, saying, “Oh, we can get it when we leave.” 

She listens to her brother and Suki flirt, as they continue the drill, shaking her head. Life would be easier if they started dating. 

The ball slips out of Suki’s hands as she starts to throw it up and she goes to chase it down the court. Katara watches as Sokka’s eyes smart and he chases after the ball with her, grabbing her around the waist so she can’t grab the ball. Suki laughs and turns around, Sokka’s arms still locked around her waist, which Katara takes as her cue to leave. 

She heads down the three courts, looking for where the ball might have gone. 

On the very last court, there’s a guy holding her ball. Katara starts to call out to him, but pauses, realizing with some surprise that it’s Zuko. 

He turns slightly and she thinks he can see her out of the corner of his eye, so Katara waves and he turns toward her fully, a sheepish expression on his face. They both walk toward each other, but stop with a good three feet in between them. 

“Here’s your ball,” he says awkwardly, holding it out to her. She takes it from him with a small smile. 

“Thanks.” 

“Are you here with anyone?” 

“Um, my brother. And our friend. What about you?” 

“My sister and her friends. I’m kind of their unofficial driver,” he says with a wry look on his face. 

“But you play.” 

“Oh, yeah. Well, it’s not--” he trails off, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“You play,” she repeats. 

“Yeah.” 

They stand in awkward silence, Katara tossing the ball up and hitting it with a closed fist. 

“I guess I’ll go,” she says finally. 

“Yeah.” 

“Maybe I’ll see you at a tournament or something.” 

He nods as she walks away. 

Suki and Sokka are kissing when Katara returns. 

“Could you guys. . . not?” she asks. 

Sokka holds up a finger. Katara sighs. 

“I’ll just pack our stuff up, then?” 

Suki shoots her a thumbs up. 

She grabs the ball bag, stuffing the ball she had gone to retrieve in them. 

Suki, luckily, only brought six balls and two of them are already in the bag. Katara jogs across the court to pick up the other, two bringing the bag with her so she doesn’t have to run back and forth. 

By the time she gets to the last ball, Suki and Sokka haven’t stopped making out. Katara huffs and hits the ball at them. Not hard, obviously, and she aims at their feet, but it’s enough for them to break apart. 

“What was that for?” Sokka says, his voice rising. 

“You needed air,” Katara replies, holding up her hand. Suki throws the ball back to her. 

“We can put it in the car,” Suki says, her face sheepish but flushed, with a small smile starting to emerge. 

“That's good, because I have to pee,” Katara says, dropping the bag and making her way to the bathroom. 

There must be something about Katara and bathrooms or Katara and peeing. She’s on her way to push open the door when she stops and hears voices, realizing there are people right outside the door. 

Katara hesitates, trying to decide between waiting the conversation out in the bathroom or completely walking in the middle of it. 

She waits it out, turning around and leaning against the door. She pulls out her phone, texting both Sokka and Suki that she’s stuck because of bathroom conversations. 

And then another voice joins the three already there, a familiar voice. 

“Zuzu,” a girl greets. Katara presses her ear to the door. 

“Azula,” the other voice responds. Is that Zuko? 

“So who were you talking to?” A new voice now. Maybe Katara should’ve been listening closer the first time around. This voice is huskier, lower, unlike the first, which is high and honeyed. 

“I don’t know what you mean,” Zuko says. 

“Don’t avoid the question.” The high voice again. Azula? Was that the name? 

“You have to be more specific,” Zuko says, his voice now on guard. 

“The girl you were talking to today.” Another new voice. Brighter than the first two and pitched right in the middle. “Plays with Avatar?” 

“What about her?” 

“Oh, nothing.” Back to Azula. “Just surprised you’re talking to Water Tribe trash like that.” 

_Hell no_.

Katara yanks open the door and looks at the four faces blinking at her. She doesn’t know which is Azula, but that doesn’t matter. 

“Imagine being so sore you lost that you’re still talking about it a month later,” she says with a glare. “Couldn’t be me. ‘Cause we won.” 

She storms past them to the parking lot, smiling to herself. 

And then an hour later, as she thinks back on it, she’s angry again. 

Zuko wasn’t going to defend her in that moment. That was obvious. And should she have expected him to, since they had only talked twice? Maybe not. But still. Still. How do you sit there and just let people completely insult others? How can you not fight for them? 

Sokka notices her glare at the dinner table. 

“What’s up, Katara?” he asks, shoving food into his mouth. Katara sits back in her seat, tapping her fingers rapidly on the table. 

“It’s nothing, Sokka,” she says quietly. “It’s nothing.”

**Author's Note:**

> first off, these are so hard to name y'all like wtf 
> 
> number two, i do think that Katara, who fights for other people so much, probably gets a little caught up when someone else doesn't but she's also incredibly empathetic and obviously she doesn't know Zuko's backstory yet but anyway this is gonna be fun 
> 
> i should have another update soon (?) bc im currently snowed in and also let's boost that ZK fic count, they're awesome and I love them so much


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